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Chelmsford's Rotella headed for bowl game

By Carmine Frongillo, cfrongillo@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/25/2012 06:35:40 AM EST

You won't find his name anywhere on Kent State University's football statistics page. In fact, AJ Rotella has yet to play in a game for the Golden Flashes. But the former Chelmsford High standout played an important role on a Kent State club that went 11-2 during the regular season and just missed out on claiming a BCS at-large bowl berth.

Rotella is a red-shirt freshman walk-on who hit the ground running in his first season in the Golden Flashes' program. He served as the backup punter and was a defensive back and quarterback on the scout team.

His play in practice helped prepare Kent State's starters for games. Rotella went all out on weekdays, so his teammates would be ready to go all out on Saturday.

"I knew it was going to be hard," said Rotella, who has dressed for games. "I knew I had to come out and prove myself. But it's been a lot of fun, too. This program is on the rise.

"Just being on the scout team defense and offense is fun for me. I help get the first stringers ready for the game. On game days, I feel I've contributed to a win by getting the starters ready to play. I've had a blast this season."

The Golden Flashes lost to Northern Illinois, 44-37, in double-overtime in the Mid-American Conference championship game. Northern Illinois (12-1) earned a berth opposite Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

Rotella and his Kent State teammates instead will travel to Alabama to face Arkansas State in the

com'>GoDaddy.com Bowl, the Golden Flashes' first bowl game in 40 years, in Mobile on Jan. 6.

Rather than think of what could have been, Rotella plans on enjoying the bowl experience with an eye on moving up the depth chart at punter or perhaps as a placekicker during spring ball.

"We went into the MAC championship game expecting to win it," said Rotella, who is majoring in criminal justice. "There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win and then we lose in double-overtime. We didn't make a BCS bowl, but we'll support Northern Illinois because they're in our conference. They deserve to be there.

"Everyone on our team is happy just to be going to a bowl game. We haven't been to a bowl game in like forever. It's going to be a really good experience. We're going down a week early. There's a bunch of bowl game events for us. Hopefully, we'll win this last game for the seniors."

Rotella, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 165 pounds, grew up in Tyngsboro. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons in high school playing at Venice (Fla.) High, where he backed up current University of Florida standout Trey Burton. His family then moved to Chelmsford, and he played for the Lions his junior and senior seasons. As a senior Rotella threw 12 touchdown passes and handled Chelmsford's punting and kickoff duties.

"He ended up starting (at quarterback) his senior year," said Chelmsford High football coach Bruce Rich. "He's not a really big kid, but he has a cannon for an arm. He did a great job for us as a quarterback and punter.

"Punters are usually taller kids with long legs. He's more compact, but he has great form. I think maybe the Florida influence, where there are big-time high school football players all over the place, certainly had an influence on him and made him aspire to be a Division 1 player. I'm really happy to see that he's part of the team at Kent State and is having success."

Rotella wasn't recruited by any Division 1 schools coming out of Chelmsford. He did most of his own leg work when it came to narrowing his list of potential destinations at the Division 1 level. Rotella enrolled at Kent State in the fall of 2011, and tried out for the team during the winter/spring of his freshman year. Without any promises that he would stick with the squad he performed well enough that the coaching staff invited him to fall camp. Mission accomplished.

This coming spring, Rotella will have to impress newly hired Kent State head coach, Paul Haynes, in his bid to move up the depth chart. Kent State's head coach this season, Darrell Hazell, is taking the job at Purdue, but will coach the Golden Flashes in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

"Coming out of Chelmsford I wanted to see if I could make it," said Rotella. "I knew I wasn't going to get a scholarship, but I wanted to see if I could compete at the Division 1 level. So I came here and talked to the coach and he said I could try out as a walk-on and I made it that way.

"Even though I'm not on scholarship it's all the same. Besides the tuition everyone is treated the same. Everyone gets the same respect. The guys are all cool. It's all worked out for the best."

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